My 87th Favorite Song of All-Time

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…and my 87th favorite song of all time is:

“There’s an Arc” by Hey Rosetta!

This song exemplifies all the reasons I am way in love with Hey Rosetta! Mainly, the incredibly heartfelt lyrics that are often about atypical subjects (here, it is not a song about lost love or the like, but about seeing a friend of yours, who you’ve known your whole life, grow up into an unhappy person, and having difficulty reconciling that with your memory of them as a happy child. Please note the literary but accessible way lyricist Tim Baker pulls this off) coupled with soaring, transcendent music that often ends in a nearly-unbearable crescendo. I’ve included the studio version, an AMAZING live version done in Tim Baker’s house, and the lyrics.

Don’t you swing like a child,
in a tree,
on a tire,
in 85?
There’s an arc that your feet will ride
on the way between hate and that Sunday fire.

You look so serious.
Why you look so serious?
The night is serving us,
but you look so serious.
And this could be our reward–
this could be it!
This simple Friday night,
where you’re loosening your tie,
but there’s a tightness in your eyes.
You look so serious.
Why do you look so serious?
The night is serving us,
and we’re deserving it.

And this could be our reward!
This could be it
(this could be all we’re owed,
all we’re owed, all we’re getting)
cause if we swing like a child
then we’re always colliding
this time of night,
but our arcs, they could align
(we could align! we could align!)
and over gravity
up comes this kicking child,
this kicking child.